When the pandemic hit, Nancy Carey Mullenbrock ’78 got to work doing what she does easily—sewing. She created masks first for family and friends—then this summer, she starting thinking about students returning to campus. Apart from cutting the waste caused by using disposable masks daily, Mullenbrock explained that making masks was a “very tangible, very easy way to support incoming students; to reach out and say, ‘I made this for you personally.’”
Knowing her old dorm neighbor Laura Grom-Domoto ’78 had been sewing masks as well, Mullenbrock made a call, and the two brainstormed the idea of the Northland Mask Ask—a letter sent out to other alumni to buy or make reusable masks for the Northland community. “Life is about being part of a community,”
Mullenbrock said. “And it’s the little things that count; those are the things that keep people healthy.”
Along with making and purchasing reusable masks, Mullenbrock and Grom-Domoto asked their alma mater family to include words of encouragement to go along with the gift, like this one from Nancy:
This is really a Superior hug
from a Northland College
alumna to a current student.
Wishing you the best in all your
endeavors. May your future be ever bright,
Within the first few days, they received responses from alumni around the US, and together, alumni, have created over two hundred, fun-patterned cloth masks that are now available across campus for students, staff, and visitors alike. “You got the feeling when you were at Northland that you could make a difference one step at a time,” said Grom-Domoto. “It was something ingrained in the culture.”
